Currently 50,000 California motorists have Yosemite Park license plates. The cost of original sequential numbered plates is $50 and a renewal plate is $40. Approximately twenty dollars from each plate goes directly to the Fund to help Yosemite National Park. Revenues are distributed quarterly by the DMV to the Yosemite Fund. No overhead is taken out. Current plates are exchanged for Yosemite plates which have a series of numbers/letters in random sequence. The extra fees paid for personalizing a Yosemite plate go to the California Environmental License Plate Fund for conservation projects throughout California.
The Yosemite Fund receives approximately $1 million annually from their specialty license program. The proceeds from the sales and renewal of the Yosemite license plate benefit Yosemite National Park and are used for managing wildlife, restoring habitat, repairing trails and other park projects. Projects funded through the program have included trail repair, bear-proof food lockers, a new visitor orientation film and habitat restoration.
License plate applications can be downloaded from the Yosemite Fund's web site. Applications can be mailed or brought in to the DMV.
The Yosemite license plate program began in 1994 and was the first specialty license plate issued in California. The Yosemite Fund staff worked with members of the state legislature to draft enabling legislation that authorized the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue the plate. As part of the legislation, the Fund needed 5,000 people to sign up for the program before the DMV would begin issuing the plates.
Today it's more difficult to get a plate issued. In 2003, the state issued a moratorium on specialty license plates for non-profits after the right to life group, Women Resource Network, filed suit against the state after its "Choose Life" license plate application was denied. However, state agencies can still obtain a specialty license plate if there are at least 7,500 applicants. The moratorium will be in place until a selection procedure is established and after it has been vetted before the public.
A large population is needed in order for a license plate program to be worth the effort of going through the process and getting applications, said Thomas Beck, Donor Services Manager for the Fund. According to Beck, California has from 5 percent to 10 percent of the cars in the country, so there is a large market.
The Fund is happy with the program but frustrated it doesn't have access to the names and personal information of plate purchasers. The DMV does not release that data due to privacy restrictions. However, a request is made on the Fund's web site that motorists send in a copy of their application to the Fund so that they can be updated on projects the plates help to fund. The Fund continues each year to try to persuade DMV to change this policy.
Contact: Jerry Edelbrock, Vice President of the Yosemite Fund at 415-434-1782